Tag: Deadly Passions

Hydrogyn is back with their sophomore effort, “Deadly Passions”. I enjoyed their debut “Bombshell” and was looking forward to what these Kentucky based rockers had in store for us for release number two.

From the opening cut “Rejection”, my guess is that Hydrogyn is trying to take a heavier approach to their music, and applaud them for doing so. “Bombshell” had a few tracks that I would consider a little too soft or light for the average hard rocker.

“Deadly Passions” starts off with the face melting tune “Rejection”. If the opening guitar riffs don’t get you interested in Hydrogyn’s music, you ought to hang around for Julie Westlake’s vocals. Much like Hydrogyn’s debut, Westlake’s vocals on this disc remind me a lot of Pat Benatar.

Craig Goldy’s brief tenure in the band must have been a good influence on guitarist Jeff Westlake, as he plays harder and heavier than ever before.

“On and On” teeters between a mid tempo melodic rocker, and a high tempo metallic rocker with some background screams thrown in from Chris Sammons for good measure. It isn’t the perfect tune, but I will get some replay value of this one.

“Deadly Passion” has a really cool upbeat groove, and is easily my favorite song on this disc.

“You Oughta Know” is a cover of the 1995 Alanis Morissette hit tune. This version is harder than the original, but not quite as good. This isn’t the first cover song Hydrogyn has recorded, but the other ones they have done are better than this. As popular as “You Oughta Know” was in the nineties, this version should have slayed the original, but it unfortunately does not.

“Candles Light Your Way” has been growing on me quite a bit. This is a catchy tune with some very good background vocals.

“Deadly Passions” has a good balance of 80’s hard rock and today’s modern hard rock sounds. In some places it works, and in others it doesn’t. I think “Deadly Passions” is a little better than Hydrogyn’s debut, but I don’t think we have heard the best piece of music from this band as of yet.